The behavior of the Air Asia flight was described as shuddering like a washing machine, after an in-flight emergency occurred with one of the aircraft’s two engines. The left engine can be seen appearing to spin like an out of balance laundry load, apparently after losing part of the fan.

The flight, Air Asia D7237 left Perth, Australia just after 7am bound for Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Approximately an hour and a half into the flight passengers heard a big bang and the plane began to shake violently. The shaking would continue for more than an hour and a half as the flight limped back to the Perth airport.

The Captain of the flight was honest with the passengers, telling them, “Please pay attention… and also please, uh, listen to everything… Our survival depends on your cooperating.” He also admitted that he was also scared and that they should all pray for a safe landing. Fortunately those prayers were answered.

Passengers interviewed in the video described their belief that the plane was going to go down. The reporter notes that passengers saw metal flying out of the engine and that many texted their families, convinced that there was a strong likelihood they would never see them again.

One passenger interviewed described what he saw as “Lots of people crying, lots of people pulling out the life jackets and stuff, pretty much preparing. We thought there was a good chance that we were going to go down.”

Marine emergency services were put on standby, with the flight emergency occurring over the Indian Ocean. Though returning safely to firm ground, alive and well was probably all the passengers had been concerned with for most of the past two hours they were “compensated” an additional $20 dollars each, probably Australian, for their troubles and then forced to line up and attempt to arrange another flight on their own.

Way to treat your customers right, Air Asia. They already don’t have the best reputation when it comes to safety. A previous crash in December of 2014 was attributed to the crew’s miscommunication while responding to another equipment problem.

I’m sure the pilots considered it, but, I wonder why they kept the damaged engine running? It could’ve done a lot of damage if it had blown apart. I believe the A330 can fly with only one engine. It won’t fly with only one wing.